Saturday, January 28, 2012

My Top eBay Moments This Week

I can't believe I forgot to do my Top eBay Moments post this week! I guess it'll be on Saturday from now on, which makes more sense than Thursdays anyway ...

I sold 62 items this week, only 6 of which were shoes. Shoes have been moving very slowly for me lately. I'm so glad that I've been shifting my focus to women's clothing. It's good to have a back-up niche for when the first one fails me in any given week.

Some of my favorites:


My father-in-law gave us a bag full of these old-style ball caps. I know nothing about selling them, but figured it was worth a shot to list them for a month or so and see what happened. I received a message last night about this hat:
Hello!
I have to ask, what company was Wareheim?

Wareheim is my last name (and there's not many of us) and I was thinking about buying the hat just because it has my name on it!

Thanks
Paul
Out of the whole bag, this is the ONE hat I was actually able to give him any history about. My father-in-law worked for Wareheim Air Brakes, a truck parts company in Virginia, over 20 years ago. The next day, he bought it. He's in Arizona, so I'm sure there's no connection there other than the name, but I thought it was a fun story anyway.
  • Acquired: 1/?/12
  • Listed: 1/16/12
  • Sold On: 1/28/12
  • Paid: $0
  • Sold For: $9.99 (-$1.81 shipping)


These Clarks are a great example of why not all of my favorite sales are huge dollar amounts or super-cool items. These shoes are pretty gross, and they sold for super cheap, but they still ranked among my top ten favorites of the week. I have had them for well over a year. I don't know what on earth possessed me to buy them, but once I did, I tried my best to sell them. I did sell them once, but for some reason my buyer cancelled. (Probably because she opened her eyes when she looked at them?) I finally had them on super-low clearance for $15 with free shipping. Even that didn't do the trick. They sold during a sale - for $12.75 and free shipping. At last! I lost money on them, but that's ok. I have learned to be a lot pickier about the shoes I pick up now.
  • Acquired: 12/4/10
  • Listed: ??
  • Sold: 1/23/12
  • Paid: $5.00
  • Sold: $12.75 (-$8.57 shipping)


My mother-in-law gave me these to sell for her. I'm not sure why. It's not a brand I've ever mentioned, but they were really, really cute. They're baby boots - a toddler size 5. They only measure 5 1/2" long and were simply adorable! They sold a lot faster than I expected them to!
  • Acquired: 12/?/11
  • Listed: 12/26/11
  • Sold On: 1/24/12
  • Paid: $0
  • Sold For: $19.99 (-$4.93 shipping)


This belonged to my 3-year old. He hasn't played with it in quite some time. He has his vtech cell phone that he plays with more. Phones with cords are so old school, you know ...
  • Acquired: ??
  • Listed: 1/16/12
  • Sold: 1/25/12
  • Paid: I think it was a gift?
  • Sold For: $19.99 + shipping to the UK

I have had these Clarks for a year and a half. I don't even have in my records anymore exactly what day I bought them, but I'm thinking probably August or so of 2010! They are the cursed size 6. Size 6 just does NOT sell for me...
  • Acquired: ??/2010
  • Listed: ??
  • Sold: 1/23/12
  • Paid: ?? Probably $3-4
  • Sold For: $20.00 (-$4.99 shipping)


In direct contract to that last paragraph, this was a very quick flip. I think I mentioned last week that I've sold every piece of Worthington that I've ever listed (except the one or two pieces I just listed this week...). This cardigan was no exception.
  • Acquired: 1/17/12
  • Listed: 1/19/12
  • Sold On: 1/24/12
  • Paid: $1.99
  • Sold For: $24.99 + shipping


Another one! This one didn't sell quite as quickly as the Worthington, but it was a good flip! I had two of these - one still had the tags, the other didn't. The one without the tags sold within a matter of days. This one took a couple weeks.
  • Acquired: 1/3/12
  • Listed: 1/4/12
  • Sold On: 1/27/12
  • Paid: $1.49
  • Sold For: $29.99 + shipping


I mentioned this one earlier in the week. I picked it up at a yard sale over the summer. My dad had this exact same phone when I was in high school. I remember driving down the road in front of my high school, and there were a bunch of kids out front, and the phone rang. I remember feeling so cool to be talking on this piece of awesomeness. My, how times have changed. This phone is analog, and therefore completely useless. I pointed that out in my listing. It's going to France, so I really hope the buyer read (and understood!) that part of the listing. If not, he'll be out an awful lot of shipping money if he wants to return it.
  • Acquired: 6/1/11
  • Listed: 10/18/11
  • Sold On: 1/26/12
  • Paid: 50 cents
  • Sold For: $30.00 (+$54 Priority shipping to France!)


My hairdresser asked me if I would be willing to sell 2 wigs and a 18 spare hair ponytail things for her. She was hoping to get her initial investment of $100 back out of them. To date, I have sold 1 wig and 4 spare hair things for a total of $71.95. I don't think we'll have a problem getting her $100 back for her. When she handed them over to me, she smiled and said, "I'll make it worth your while." I have no idea what that means, but really - I'll be completely happy if she just lets me have one of the wig heads :-D
  • Acquired: 12/30/11
  • Listed: 12/30/11
  • Sold On: 1/24/12
  • Paid: $0
  • Sold For: $31.99 + shipping


I was so very excited about this sale! These are NWT Michael Kors jeans. I offered them to my brother-in-law, who thought they were his size, but he said they ended up being too small. So I listed them. They sold this week, and I heard from the buyer a few days later that they were too small for him too. So now I'm wondering if they're just really slim cut? But I do have the measurements in my listing. I'll be relisting them once I get them back. I guess I'll have to put a blurb about how they seem to be slim-fit, but please consider the measurements provided. Sigh. It was a good sale too. :(
  • Acquired: 9/3/11
  • Listed: 11/1/11
  • Sold on: 1/23/12
  • Paid: $7.50
  • Sold For: $56.99 + shipping
That refund's gonna hurt :(

**********

What were your favorite sales this week?

7 comments:

  1. Hi Jess - I'm lolmomof4 from EBUG. Thanks for posting your top moments. I always learn so much! My top moment this week was selling a cookie jar for ....$150!!!!... WOO HOO!! I've never sold ANYTHING for over $40 so this was a huge and much needed sale to get me back in the game! Looking forward to seeing everybody else's woo-hoo's. Nicole

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  2. Nice sale, Nicole! Was that a fixed price sale or an auction? And what made it worth so much?

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  3. I also overlooked Worthington, but bought a pair of black dress slacks with that label at Salvation Army this week for $1.50 (Wednesdays are half off days). They fit beautifully! I sell women's clothing but have stuck to super well known brands like Chico's, etc. Thanks for the tip! Sherry

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  4. I sold vintage Bambi sheets and fitted sheet for total of $72.17 profit. I'm wondering if it's ok to list tacky xmas sweaters? I see a lot now in our thrift stores. What would you advise? Should I buy them all and list or just buy them and wait for november?

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  5. I keep my Christmas sweaters listed year-round. I have a premium store, so it only costs me 5 cents per month to list them through the year. People do buy these through the year (for some reason), so it's worth that 5 cents per month to have them out there and available.

    Something else to consider is that around Christmas, eBay is absolutely FLOODED with these! During the year, it's not. So anyone looking for them through the year will have fewer to choose from, increasing the odds that they will choose yours, IF yours is listed.

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  6. Thanks for posting your sales. I haven't sold more than 1-2 items per week. My best sale came this past week . I sold a pair of womens Carlos Santana boots for $39.99 +shipping. Paid $3.50 for them!

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  7. Jessica - It was a cute vintage OWL cookie jar. Couldn't find another one like it but there were some that were less cute that had sold high. I stuck a really high BIN price with a BO and quickly settled for the first offer (after 4 days). Good for the buyer and good for me. Now...to ship it...ugh.

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